48 Hours a Day

“Don’t attack! It’s me!”

Zhang Heng heard someone suddenly talking to him.

With the assistance of the dim light, Zhang Heng saw Okita Soki. The latter coughed twice and slashed an enemy in front of him. He stood with Zhang Heng and comforted him, “Don’t worry, our people will be here soon.”

“Don’t lie.” Zhang Heng snapped. “You shouted so loudly in front of the door earlier, afraid that they might not know that Kondo Isame is en-route. Do you think they will believe that?”

Okita Soki scratched his head, “Will they believe that?”

“If they did, they wouldn’t have allowed you to enter the tea house so easily.”

Zhang Heng patiently analyzed the situation for Okita Soki, “Now, they obviously want to surround us here.”

“I’m so sorry. Lying has never been my forte,” confessed Okita. “I received intel that a mysterious man is here to meet somebody in secret. Then I saw you are inside the tea house as well, and I was worried about your safety. So, I rushed in to help you! There was no time to call the calvary.

As the two chatted, Zhang Heng saw the lady boss not far away from them, holding something in her hand. The expression on his face changed, and he shouted to Okata, “Run!”

“What?”

Okita Soki couldn’t understand why Zhang Heng would run from his enemies. They might not be able to kill every single one of them, but they could at least exert more pressure. There was no reason to flee right now. After seeing Zhang Heng dropping and rolling on the ground, Okita’s keen perception of danger as the first master of the Shinsengumi saved his life. He quickly leaned over and dodged a bullet from the lady boss’s gun. When she filled up her gun with gunpowder and bullets, Zhang Heng got up from the ground and lunged at the lady boss. It seemed that the lady boss was an essential person in this tea house, seeing how several geisha and samurai scurried to protect her upon Zhang Heng’s attack.

Zhang Heng knew that it was a life and death moment for him. He had allowed the boss to reload and fire a second shot at him. Thus, he abandoned his defense and attacked her with all his might, employing the most potent skill from Niten Ichi-ryū, Mindless Slash, to wipe out the opponents in front of him. He had no intention to leave any of them alive.

In a critical moment as such, courage and determination were all he needed.

The two geishas along the way had their necks severed as soon as they approached their lady boss. They swayed like drunkards and fell into the flower bed beside them. But soon, others took their place, refusing to let Zhang Heng kill the lady boss. He made every step under tremendous pressure. The blood of his victims in front of him had now streamed into a river, and the fire burning in the storeroom had only raged in intensity.

The amalgamation of fire and blood literally transformed the small courtyard into a living hell. During this period, what remained unchanged was Zhang Heng’s pace. He was like death, waiting to harvest each soul that was unfortunate enough to cross his path.

In the end, the lady boss started to shake in fear. Indeed, the samurai around her felt nothing, not knowing what fear was, but the lady boss was just an ordinary person. She knew how to fear for her life. When she saw Zhang Heng getting closer, she started to panic and spilled the gunpowder on the ground. What really made her want to retreat was Okita Soki, now rushing towards her from the other side.

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The lady boss finally made up her mind to move to a safe place before completing the reloading process. However, her dismissal caused a loophole in the originally perfect defensive formation. Although it only lasted a split second, in the eyes of masters like Zhang Heng and Okita Soki, it was enough for them to change the battle’s tide. Without any warning, Zhang Heng tossed his wakizashi at the samurai that stood beside the lady boss, pinning him to the ground. At the same time, Okita slew the enemies in front of him without any hesitation. Seeing how things had turned for the worst, the lady boss decided to change her escape route, but unfortunately, Zhang Heng had caught up to her. Although the samurai and geisha who feared no death were trying their best to protect the lady boss, there was nothing they could not when faced with opponents like Zhang Heng and Okita Soki. The gap between them was too huge. Zhang Heng could not care less about two katana aiming straight for his chest since their master got killed only a second later. Due to the inertia, the blade did not penetrate deep into his flesh-it looked bloody on the surface, only adding to his unhinged persona. Then, Zhang Heng finally stood in front of the lady boss.

The fear had caused the lady boss to forget that she did not fill any gunpowder and bullet into her gun. She then raised the iron cannon in her hand as if it was her final hurrah, desperately pulling the trigger. Nonetheless, only white smoke came out from the muzzle. After that, her head was detached from her body. No amount of foundation could conceal the fear on her face.

“Excellent! Let’s get out from here!!!” Okita, Soki shouted.

Although there were still many samurai in the tea house, there was nobody to command them anymore with the lady boss’s death. Hence, their combat power had significantly reduced -a good time for them to break through the encirclement.

However, Zhang Heng’s gaze was on the other side. After hearing the names of Shinsengumi and Kondo Isami, the Tobaku supporters who gathered here tonight begun evacuating in an orderly manner. They left through the side entrance-among them, the most important members were Shinsaku Takasugi and Gabriel. Some samurai stayed behind, raising their katana above their heads with the intention of killing Zhang Heng and Okita Soki.

Zhang Heng knew that tonight was the best chance to get his hands on the JuzumaruShinsaku Takasugi and Kirino Toshiaki were not going about to appear that often anymore. Especially after what happened tonight, Shinsaku Takasugi might even leave Kyoto. If Kirino Toshiaki were to escort him back to Choshu Domain, Zhang Heng would never acquire the famous sword.

However, Zhang Heng did not act recklessly. He quickly evaluated his current physical state and the success rate and risk of seizing the katana. Okita Soki wiped the blood off his face and foollowed Zhang Heng’s gaze. He then put on a strange look on his face, “Is there any grievance between you and the Choshu Domain?”

“There is no grudge between them and me. I just want the Juzumaru.” Zhang Heng said without concealing his intention.

Okita Soki was surprised to hear that. Earlier, he hadn’t finished what he wanted to say to Zhang Heng. When he rushed in to save Zhang Heng, he did suspect the relationship between Zhang Heng and the Tobaku supporters. After all, the two had only met once at Kiyomizu-dera. One could never be too careful even if they talked to someone close to them, let alone the two barely knew each other. But this doubt was cleared when he rushed in and saw Zhang Heng embroiled in a fierce battle with the samurai. However, Okita Soki did not expect Zhang Heng to come here tonight just for the katana.